MP Rodney Charles calls on Imbert to immediately bring FATCA legislation to Parliament
Naparima MP Rodney Charles is today calling on the Minister of Finance to immediately bring the FATCA legislation to the House, so that it may be sent to a Joint Select Committee (JSC), as soon as possible.
“After creating nationwide panic with their botched handling of this matter the first time, Minister Imbert is set to repeat his mistake of the not so distant past. He seems intent on foisting his Bill on the Parliament in the eleventh hour” MP Charles stated.
The country was initially told that the deadline for the legislation to be passed by Parliament was September 30th. The Government waited until mere days before the “deadline” to attempt to bully the Opposition into passing mediocre law. The Opposition Leader, Mrs Kamla Persad- Bissessar was steadfast in her position to protect the national interest and insisted then that the Bill be sent to a JSC and the Opposition would support the passage of good law. Thank God for her decisiveness.
“Here we have Minister Imbert attempting the same political gimmickry. They stated that the deadline was actually December 31st, and now we are in December and they are again going to wait until the last minute to hold the country to ransom.” Charles said.
We were told that the heavens would fall and our financial system would collapse if their not well thought out legislation was not passed by September 30th. If at the end of 2016, there are problems with our financial system, it can only be because Keith Rowley has no plan whatsoever to create jobs, diversify our economy, or stop the hemorrhage of foreign exchange.
FATCA legislation must be sent to JSC, because it is in the best interest of the country that laws are thoroughly scrutinized.
This Keith Rowley led administration would do well to heed the message sent to them in the recently concluded Local Government Elections, where they lost over 70,000 votes. The people have clearly indicated that they are fed up of this highhanded PNM brand of politics.
It is time for Imbert and the PNM to realize that there must be consensus building and the Government must be prepared to work with the Opposition and the national community in the best interest of Trinidad and Tobago